Thermostat change to fix running cool

Hopefully this is just a funny story I can tell people in the future.

I recently got my Defender 110 back on the road, and noticed the temp gauge sits stable about a third of the way, and the heater blows warmish but not enough on these cold mornings.

So I changed the thermostat this morning, working on process of elimination. So it now has a 200TDI stat at 88°C. I did a test drive to check no leaks and although it started to warm up, it wasn't really long enough to see if its now any better.

To my surprise upon inspecting the old stat, its rated at 75°. Hopefully this explains my issue with running cool and not getting enough heat.

Is there any conceivable reason why it would have a 75° stat? Google tells me this could be for a old mini, so was the previous owner trying to solve an issue with overheating or was he simply willing to grab anything that looked right?

In case anyone reads this in the future, I want to add that today did a couple of hours and for some reason this morning the temp barely left the initial white zone, yet on the way home it did climb almost to half way, which has given confidence to say I think fitting the correct thermostat has improved things.

When I bought it there was a rad muff, which I removed, yet now in this cold weather I am thinking of refitting it. There is a separate zipped panel for the water cooling side verses the intercooler which will need to be left open.

Did you fit the specific tdi stat or just a generic one?
If nit sure post a pic.

lynall said:

Did you fit the specific tdi stat or just a generic one?
If nit sure post a pic.

Click to expand...

Got ERR2803 " thermostat 200Tdi Def Ds1 Rrc"

Thats the kiddy, when you mentioned mini I straight away thought you had fitted a stat without the bypass shut off.
Keep an eye on the temp gauge as getting a good stat is a bit of a lottery!

lynall said:

Thats the kiddy, when you mentioned mini I straight away thought you had fitted a stat without the bypass shut off.
Keep an eye on the temp gauge as getting a good stat is a bit of a lottery!

Click to expand...

I found the 75° one in there, which I guess to be a mini one, so it might well have been wrong type: the new one is much longer.

I'll keep an eye on the gauge, although unfortunately the bulb has fallen out at the back of it, so it's difficult to see in the dark.